Thermal cup holder

Abstract

A cup-enveloping sleeve of elongated configuration for creating a thermal barrier around the circumference of a beverage cup or container. The sleeve comprises a flexible body with opposed top and bottom edges, with arcuately spaced apart arrays of radially projecting ribs being formed on the body and extending continuously between the top and bottom edges. At least one additional array of reticulated radially inwardly extending projections are provided, and positioned between mutually adjacent pairs of rib arrays, with these projections being segmented to define circumferentially extending land areas between mutually adjacent segments of projections so as to permit the sleeve to engage a variety of conventional cup sizes, and also to provide space for advertising or instructive indicia. Engageable couplings are provided to convert the elongated sleeve to a frusto-conical configuration.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A thermal cup protector comprising a cup enveloping sleeve with an elongated hand-gripping cup-engaging body of truncated cylindrical configuration and with opposed open top and bottom ends, said cup-engaging sleeve comprising: 
       (a) a flexible body with opposed top and bottom edges;  
       (b) a plurality of arcuately spaced apart arrays of radially projecting ribs are formed in said cup-engaging body and extend continuously between said top and bottom edges; and  
       (c) an array of reticulated radially inwardly extending projections positioned between each mutually adjacent pair of said rib arrays with said reticulated projections being segmented to define circumferentially extending land areas between mutually adjacent segments of each elongated projection with one circumferentially extending land area being positioned adjacent each of said top and bottom edges and extending continuously between each mutually adjacent array pair of said elongated ribs.  
     
     
       2. The cup-engaging sleeve of  claim 1  wherein gaps between mutually adjacent elongated ribs converge downwardly between said top and bottom edges, and wherein said ribs are expandable between a normal generally rectangular cross-sectional configuration and a stretched extended outwardly converging configuration to permit said cup-engaging sleeve to conform to the frusto-conical configuration of each of a family of beverage cups. 
     
     
       3. The cup-engaging sleeve of  claim 2  wherein said cup-enveloping sleeve is compatible with a family of dimensionally different frusto-conical drinking cups, with each having a common top dimension and with varying height dimensions to accommodate different capacities within said family. 
     
     
       4. The cup-engaging sleeve of  claim 1  wherein said complimentary male and female snap fit coupling means include a female member with a round outer surface and a male prong member of square configuration. 
     
     
       5. The cup-engaging sleeve of  claim 1  wherein said cup-enveloping sleeve is fabricated from high impact polystyrene. 
     
     
       6. The cup-engaging sleeve of  claim 1  wherein said cup-enveloping sleeve comprises a lid for grippingly engaging the top edge of the cup being enveloped by said sleeve, and with flexible link means coupling said lid to said cup-enveloping sleeve. 
     
     
       7. The cup-engaging sleeve of  claim 6  wherein a site aperture is formed in said cup-engaging body, with said aperture being generally in alignment with said flexible link means. 
     
     
       8. A thermal cup protector comprising a cup enveloping sleeve with an elongated hand-gripping cup-engaging body of truncated cylindrical configuration and with opposed open top and bottom ends, said cup-engaging sleeve comprising: 
       (a) a flexible body with opposed top and bottom edges;  
       (b) a plurality of arcuately spaced apart arrays of radially projecting ribs are formed in said cup-engaging body and extend continuously between said top and bottom edges; and  
       (c) each of said spaced apart arrays of radially projecting ribs comprising a discrete grouping of radially projecting ribs, and wherein multiple arrays are formed in said cup-engaging body with each of said arrays being spaced from its neighbor by land areas.